Last night was the Ophuls version of La Ronde, which was phenomenal. I mean, the opening tracking shot was a mindblower, but the scene where Simone Simon's character seduces her young charge was yowza-hot. I've dug her as a actress, but never found her quite as scorching as she was in this movie. Also amazing: she was 40 when she played this part. DAYUM.

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Afterwards I watched Army Of Shadows, which leapt right into my list of top movies. It's an unrelentingly tense and grim portrait of the French Resistance which grapples with the very ideas of what it means to be free and to resist oppression. We never see our Resistance cell actually do anything that furthers their cause. Instead they seem to be constantly avoiding arrest, culling their numbers, brooding on the meaning of their lives, and reluctantly committing acts of brutality. An absolutely amazing movie, one that ranks with The Battle Of Algiers as a portrait of domestic terrorism.

Saw Easy A and it was totally charming with a fun script and some great performances. Emma Stone was womderful and the whole thing was just pure entertainment.

TCM heads-upping: Upcoming in the next couple of weeks are both of Malick's 70s movies, Days Of Heaven and Badlands, which are also among my favorite films. In a bit of synchronicity after my viewing of La Ronde, two more extravagant, proto-feminist Ophuls flicks are in the offing: The Earrings Of Madame de... and Lola Montes.

I'm staying at my brother's for the weekend and we watched Serenity Friday night. It was the first time I'd watched it since the one time I saw it in the theatre and was so traumatized by it. Watching it again after all my issues with it have been worked out, it was very enjoyable and hung together well.

two more extravagant, proto-feminist Ophuls flicks are in the offing: The Earrings Of Madame de... and Lola Montes.

I don't love Lola Montes, but I've always wanted to see Earrings which is one of those movies that is on the short list of Greatest Movies Ever (along with Rules of the Game and Citizen Kane and whatever's in vogue that decade).

Gorgeous movie. The scene where Darrieux and De Sica dance their way through weeks of social engagements has been copied often and for great reason: it's one of the best uses of visual language out there. The way that the meaning of the earrings continues to shift over time is also beautifully handled.

Holy crap Justin Timberlake is adorable in person. And the movie was pretty good too.

Longer Social Network review:

This movie is very, very good. The script is snappy and just Sorkin-y enough to be meaty without getting too bogged down in dialogue. Fincher's direction goes a long way towards splitting up the trademark Sorkin walk-n-talks with some great visuals (the closest this movie ever gets to an action scene is a crew race that Fincher shoots like a gladiator match, but he gives good transitional montage and manages to make hacking visually interesting without resorting to stupid onscreen graphics).

Incidentally, according to Sorkin, the ONLY notes he got back from Facebook about the final script were jargon corrections for the hacking scenes. Buncha nerds.

The performances are all very strong, including Timberlake who gets to say things like "You're looking at the man who brought down the record companies!" with a completely straight face and get away with it.

At the Q&A, Sorkin continually stressed how much research he (and the rest of the production team) did in order to make the movie as factual as possible. Which raises the question, why are all the women in the film fictional or composites? And the further question, do these fictional women and their storylines serve to make the (real) male characters appear more or less douchey than they are in real life? I wish there'd been time to discuss this during the Q&A, but it was a PACKED screening and they were only given about 20 minutes to chat, so unfortunately most of the questions were things like "99 takes? Really?" and "Are you on Facebook?"

Chris Evans on Captain America set. Looking large. Also, pointedly porcelain.

Did you get a chance to lick J.T. for me?

I have to say, I like both of those guys' work (Fincher and Sorkin), so I'm sure I'll like this too. Bummer about the women, though.